If only community colleges were able to exert the powers of knowledge dissemination and community mobilization which they ought rightly to possess, then in the early stage of the SARS contagion, each of them could have provided related curricula. The saying “Knowledge is power” is quite apropos here. Misconceptions create panic; and as the result of most folks not having an accurate understanding of SARS, when [Taipei Municipal] Hoping Hospital was discussing whether or not to make arrangements for 60 hospital beds in negative-pressure isolation rooms for the treatment of SARS victims, residents in the neighboring Aikuo and Nanmen boroughs protested vehemently, afraid that “This action by Hoping Hospital will have a damaging influence on the health of our community residents and on our community’s overall public image, causing it to be looked on as an epidemic breeding ground and indirectly resulting in plummeting property values.” Even to this day, in fact, no expert is able to effectively convince everyone that there won’t be such a huge impact. Moreover, on the day of their protest action, all of their legislative and city council representatives felt obliged to stand on their side and join them in opposing this governmental measure, dramatizing the predicament of poor communication between government and citizenry.
如果社區大學能在社區發揮該有的知識傳播與動員的力量，那麼在SARS開始蔓延的初期，各社區大學就可以提供相關的課程。有句話說得好：「知識是力 量」。錯誤的知識會造成恐慌，由於大部分老百姓對SARS沒有正確的認知，所以當和平醫院討論要不要增設60個負壓隔離病床來照顧SARS病患時，附近愛 國里、南門里的居民發出強烈的抗議 [唯恐和平醫院這項措施會影響社區居民的健康以及社區整體的形象──被當作瘟疫區──間接造成當地房地產價格的下跌]。事實上，會不會造成這麼大的影響， 至今仍然沒有專業人士可以有效地說服大家。而在社區居民抗議行動當天，所有民意代表最後都不得不站到人民那邊，一起反對政府的這項措施，顯示出政府與民間 溝通的困境。
Our governments and citizens ought to be able to learn lessons from this SARS crisis: The enhancement of our people’s civic consciousness and level of knowledge has an important bearing on governments’ action-planning and coordination; and if community empowerment and resources aren’t augmented, many governmental actions can’t possibly produce good results, or the process of governmental allocation of resources will unavoidably result in great waste!
政府與民間應該可以從這一次的SARS危機學得教訓：公民意識與知識水準的提升會影響政府的行動配置；如果社區的力量與資源沒有提昇，政府很多行動根本無法落實，或者政府在資源分配的過程中，將會被迫形成很多的浪費！ Part2續待